Fiji's Prime Minister Hon. Voreqe Bainimarama met at the United Nations today with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The Secretary General warmly congratulated Fiji's Prime Minister for the successful completion of the recent Fiji general elections, and for Fiji's people choosing him to lead the nation.

Mr. Ban congratulated Fiji for the free, fair, and democratic manner in which the elections were conducted.

As a nation, Fiji wishes for this Summit to be a watershed event in our collective quest to deal with the scourge of climate change. We thank the Secretary General for his timely initiative and applaud his efforts to catalyze concrete actions.

I’m delighted to announce to the nation that the 45 Fijian peacekeepers being detained in Syria have been released unharmed. They are now safely back in a United Nations compound, they are all healthy, they are in high spirits and they will soon be in contact with their families and loved ones here in Fiji.

Our men will need to be debriefed and they obviously deserve a period of rest before they return to their duties, but I know that they are all keen to continue their mission.